Republicans claim to be supported by 'the people,' but numbers aren't on their side

Republicans repeat ad infinitum their claims of support by “the people.” I am not saying that Democrats do not, but what is confusing is when we start applying numbers to what the Republicans claim in terms of support, the numbers do not justify that claim.

The numbers so blatantly debunk Republican claims of majority support on multiple issues that the assertion is preposterously absurd. Only one Republican candidate for president has received a majority or even a plurality since 1988. George H. Walker Bush lost to Bill Clinton, who received the plurality of votes when Ross Perot ran. George W. Bush won in 2000, but he did not win the popular vote. Al Gore won by 450 votes. For those who decry this popular vote disparity as meaningless, read on! President Bush did win the popular vote in 2004, but that was the last time any Republican would win the popular vote. After Bush, Barack won the popular vote twice. And then came Donald. He lost the popular vote in 2016 by three million votes. In 2020, he lost by more than seven million votes. How can a party claim popular support when they have won the popular vote only once since 1988, once in 36 years?

On the issues, only 38% of Americans support overturning Roe. On stricter gun controls, 56% support stricter actions, slightly down from a high of 66% in 2020. Barrons in March 2024 reported that 70% of voters in seven swing states support higher taxes on those earning more than $400,000. As Republicans attempt to change Social Security, they are fighting strong majorities in both parties that strongly support the program. They face the same disparity with Medicare, where 80% strongly support the program that the GOP wants to eviscerate. More than 70% of Americans oppose book bans in libraries, another fervent topic among Republicans. After years of Trump’s empty promises, President Biden’s infrastructure bill has 65% approval. Just under 60% of Americans support both military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. Over 70% of Americans support the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency Republicans are determined to kill.

These polls undeniably disprove the constant Republican claim that “the people” favor them. What we are seeing in Missouri, which has become a Republican stronghold, is the same abuse of “the people.” The 2018 effort by Missouri Republicans to pass Right to Work for the second time lost to 67% opposition. Clean Missouri, opposed by Missouri Republicans, passed with 60% approval in 2019. Clean Missouri removed partisanship in the drawing of Missouri’s districts, slowed the legislator to lobbyist pipeline, limited lobbyist gifts, and broadened the Sunshine Law. Determined to prevent the non-partisan redistricting from being enforced, the Republican legislature passed an alternative that eliminated the non-partisan drawing of districts, key to their large majorities. Every Republican candidate in 2020 bashed Clean Missouri’s attempt to remove partisanship. The Republican alternative, reinstating gerrymandered districts, only managed to squeak out a 51% victory. Hardly a mandate! But it was a majority, which Republicans accepted as sufficient.

The question again arises, “Where are these people?” What we are seeing right now in Missouri is a concerted attempt by Republicans to ensure that “the people” do not really have an option to pass legislation, initiatives, or constitutional amendments. Fearing the vote on preserving Roe in Missouri has motivated Republicans to do their best that nothing will ever pass, if instituted by “the people.”

Republicans expressed no opposition to the 122 instances in which the Missouri Constitution was amended under current rules, including their own efforts to amend it. But suddenly, as support for Roe shattered any hesitancy, Republicans determined the old method of amending the constitution endangered a core principle of their party — no Roe. Alternative amendments were offered to prevent any absolute majority in Missouri from succeeding. One demanded amendments receive approval from the majority of congressional districts, the tactic used by Mississippi, which had required any candidate for governor to receive majority approval in congressional districts to prevent an African-American winner. This requirement in Missouri, where possible majorities would be attainable in only three of the eight Congressional Districts, would be the end of any amendments from the “people.” Another demanded that all signature gatherers be Missouri residents. Both parties understand that these citizen-inspired efforts require contracts with organizations to help. That happens whether it is a Democratic or Republican voter initiative.

Then Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, responsible for running elections, decided to insert his office into preventing reproductive rights for Missourians. Realizing that, in Missouri, signatures for a ballot initiative could not be sought while under court review, Ashcroft did what Republicans hate; he delayed any signature-gathering with frivolous lawsuits. His deceptive ballot language died in Missouri’s Supreme Court.

Missouri’s Republicans know the numbers on support for preserving Roe and they are truly terrified that “the people” might pass something a minority of Missourians oppose. Even in this conservative state, support for restoring Roe has a clear plurality. Bluntly, for all their talk about representing “the people,” Missouri’s Republicans are absolutely petrified of what “the people” might achieve as their policy on Roe remains very unpopular. When Republicans talk about “the people,” know that they are ONLY talking about their “people.” The last thing they want is for Missouri’s majority to speak. Vote!

Robert Haslag lives in Nixa.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Republican Party is on the wrong side of the majority in Missouri